Public Service Announcement Campaign Using Social Media

Rural PSA Social Media Use

Social media is a great way to promote your campaign and amplify your message. Posting often and including a variety of content will keep your online community engaged. Utilize Facebook[1], Twitter[2] and YouTube[3] to promote the campaign by posting messages and videos.

Twitter

Twitter is a service for friends, family and co-workers to stay connected through the exchange of quick, frequent messages. Tweets are short updates written with 140 characters or less, sent by Twitter users.

To help with promotion of the campaign we have developed a Tweet Sheet[4] of tweets for different occasions to tie into the SAAM campaign as well as other community events. If you are new to Twitter please see How To Tweet: Twitter 101[5], this provides detailed information on using Twitter. We also developed some tips that will help you promote your campaign.

Do I need anything special to use it?
All you need to use Twitter is an internet connection or a mobile phone. Once you're in, type your first update into the web box.

How do I find my friends?
When you create an account, you can search for people by name or username, or invite friends via email. Once you've found your friends, click on "follow' to start getting their updates.

What does it mean to follow someone on Twitter?
Following someone simply means receiving their Twitter updates. When you follow someone, new messages are added to your home page as people post the, so you always get the updates in real time.

Who reads my updates?
It's up to you. Your followers read your updates, and anyone else who comes across them in a search. Your twitter profile is public by default; you can change your profile settings to approve followers and keep your updates out of search results.

What are @Replies?
An @reply is a public message sent from one person to another, distinguished from normal updates by the @username prefix. Reply publically to any update on Twitter by using the @username format. If your account if private, users who are not following you will not see your @replies or mentions.

What does RT, or retweet mean?
RT is short for retweet, and indicates a re-posting of someone else's tweet. People add RT somewhere is a tweet to indicate that part of their tweet includes something they are re-posting from another person's tweet, sometimes with a comment of their own.

What does #, or Hastag, mean?

A hash tag is simply a way for people to search for tweets that have a common topic. For example, if you search #sexualassault (or #SexualAssault, because it is not case-sensitive), you will get a list of tweets related to this topic. This is also a useful way to see how often your campaign has been tweeted or retweeted about.

Some #Hastag options you can use for this campaign include:
• #talk
• #talkabout
• #talkaboutit

YouTube

One inexpensive way to promote the T.V. spot is to upload it to your organization's YouTube channel and Tweet and Facebook about the campaign with a link to your YouTube channel.

Additional resources on using social media:

This article discusses five ways you can utilize social media to get your message across effectively.